Pillow construction

ABSTRACT

An inflatable pillow having a central aperture is arranged for positioning under the neck and lower head of the user, maintaining the hair of the user in an elevated position to prevent crushing of the hairdo, and a surge chamber extending beyond the head of the user permits a flow of air into and out of a main portion of the pillow.

United States Patent 721 Inventor Floren V. H lle 3,276,046 10/1966 Capelli 5/338 Rt. 3, Box [42A, E810", cfl o- 6 12 3,383,408 6/1968 Blaney /338 I l m 22 .969 FOREIGN PATENTS I221 Filed ar. pmcmcd Sept- 847,534 10/1939 France 5/338 Primary Examiner-Bobby R. Gay Assistant Examiner--Peter A Aschenbrenner [54] PILLOW CONSTRUCTION Attorney-Richard D. Law

1 Claim, 3 Drawing Figs.

[52] US. Cl 5/338, 5/341 [51 Int. Cl A47g 9/00 [50] Field of Search... 5/338, 341 ABSTRACT; An i fl t bl pillow having a central aperture is arranged for positioning under the neck and lower head of the [56] Reerences C'ted user, maintaining the hair of the user in an elevated position to UNIT D STATES PATENTS prevent crushing of the hairdo, and a surge chamber extending 2,521,780 9/1950 Dodd 5/338 beyond the head of the user permits a flow of air into and out 2,688,142 9/1954 Jensen 5/341 X ofa main portion ofthe pillow.

l8 1 fzo I I v. IF

PATENTED SEP 7 l9?! R O T N E V m FLORENCE HELZER BY W? ATTORNEY PILLOW CONSTRUCTION High-style hairdos for women such as bouffant, teased, piled-on, and the like, cause women considerable difficulty particularly for sleeping or resting in a prone or supine position. Also, curlers in a females hair prevents comfortable sleeping on ordinary pillows. Numerous attempts have been made in the past to attempt to eliminate hair problems of women for sleeping and resting. For example, it has been suggested to use small pillows under the neck and shoulders to hold the head and hair above a resting surface. Another proposal is to provide a pair of spaced pillows having a cloth suspended between the pillows to support a person's head above a resting surface. A feather pillow is arranged under the shoulders of the user with a rigid extension for holding the head above the resting surface. Still other pillows provide inflatable devices for extending under the shoulders for holding the users head above the surface. Such pillows generally do a reasonably good job of supporting a persons head but only in one position normally supine, i.e., on ones back, and when the user turns or tosses restlessly, the advantages achieved by the construction is lost.

According to the present invention, I provide an inflatable pillow having a large orifice therein with means for supporting the users neck, shoulders and a portion of the head with the hair in the opening held above the supporting surface. One side of the pillow for holding the users head used under the neck and shoulders, is larger than the opposite side. The other side provides a surge chamber for air in the inflatable pillow to prevent rocking and bulging of the pillow on movement of the user on the pillow. The invention provides neck and lower head support while maintaining the hair above the supporting surface and permits the user to lie on her side as well as supine on her back and prone on her stomach, but still provides support for the hair above the supporting surface.

Included among the objects and advantages of the invention is a double compartment inflatable pillow arranged to support the neck and lower head of the user while maintaining the users head above a supporting surface.

Another object of the invention is to provide a doublecharnbered pillow in which a user rests on one chamber and the other chamber provides a surge volume to permit movement of the user on the pillow without the pillow bulging or oscillating under the movement.

Another object of the invention is to provide an inflatable pillow in which the users neck and head is supported, maintaining the users hair above the supporting surface and in an aperture in the pillow.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention may be readily ascertained by referring to the following description and appended illustrations in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of an assembled inflatable pillow in use, according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a developed section of a pillow slip, arranged for covering a compartment of the pillow of the invention; and

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the pillow according to the invention taken along section line 3-3 of FIG. 1.

In the device selected for illustration, a pillow according to the invention includes a large inflatable chamber formed of a piece of material folded back on itself and sealed along its edges. A long seal 12 on the side opposite the fold of the chamber 1.0, a seal along end 14 and a seal 16 on the opposite end forms the chamber. Secured to and in communication with the chamber 10 is a folded back piece of material 18 having its edges sealed together at 20 and sealed along junction line 22 to the chamber 10. In a similar manner a piece of material 24 folded back on itself is sealed along its edges 26 and is sealed along junction line 28 for open communication with the chamber 10. Thus, chamber 10 is open communication with the both side chambers to provide a free flow of air therethrough. A surge chamber 30 is formed by a piece of folded back material and sealed along its edges 32, sealed along one end 34 and the opposite end 36. The surge chamber is connected to the side chambers along seal line 38 at one end and seal line 42 at the other end to the chambers 24 and 28 respectively.

With all of the seals in airtight relation, the device forms an inflatable unit having a large chamber 10, a smaller surge chamber 30 and passages 24 and 18 extending between the two. A filling valve 40 is sealed through the edge seal 34 for filling and exhausting air into and from the unit.

In one useful form, the pillow is made generally rectangular, about 28 inches long with the large chamber 10 being about 7 inches in diameter and the surge chamber about 4% inches in diameter. The side passages are about 1% inches in diameter and about 7% inches long. With such a configuration, the hollow center is about a Pk-inch wide rectangle with rounded seams on all inside edges. The material may be sheet rubber, sheet plastic which is flexible and resilient, or the like. The material must be scalable to form an imperforate unit capable of holding air for a considerable period of time. It may be heat scalable, sealed by solvent, cement or the like.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, a user 60 lies with her neck and lower head on the large chamber 10 with her hair 62 extended into the opening in the pillow. Any movement of the user presses on the chamber 10 sending a surge of air into the surge chamber to permit free movement on the pillow without the pillow bulging or bouncing, and permitting the pillow to remain soft and very pliable. The pillow may be used by the user lying flat on her back, her stomach, or on her side, with the hair maintained above the supporting surface and without crushing by the hairdo of the user. It is easily and quickly inflated or deflated providing a very portable pillow, which folds into a small package when deflated.

A pillow slip is readily provided, shown in FIG. 2, by a piece of material 70 arranged to be folded along fold line 72 and having triangular shaped pockets 73, 74, 75 and 76. The slip is placed over the chamber 10 by passing it through the opening in the pillow with the two sides folded back over the large chamber 10. The triangular shaped pockets of one edge of slip are then placed over the ends 13 and 15. For example, pockets 73 and 74 are placed over the ends first and then the folded over top section with the pockets 76 and 75 placed over the pockets 73 and 74 respectively to hold the pillow slip securely. The pillow slip provides a sanitary cover, and prevents skin contact with bare rubber or plastic.

I claim:

1. An inflatable pillow for preventing crushing the hairdo of the user comprising:

a. an elongated first generally rectangular chamber when inflated supporting the neck, shoulders and a portion of the head of the user;

b. a second generally rectangular chamber arranged as a surge chamber to accommodate surges of air from said first chamber, and spaced therefrom so that the head and hair of the user generally do not contact said second chamber when inflated, said first chamber being approximately twice the cross-sectional width of said second chamber, and the length of both said chambers being about three times the cross-sectional width of said first chamber;

c. a pair of spaced-apart chambers having a length less than that of said first and second chamber extending from the ends of said first chamber to the ends of said second chamber providing means for forming communication passages in said pillow between said first and second chambers, supporting the hair of the user above the supporting surface of the pillow, and permitting free movement of a user on said first chamber, a generally rectangular pillow with a generally rectangular opening being formed by said chambers, the pillow being formed solely by said chambers and being flexible in its inflated and deflated states; and

d. means for inflating said pillow at least adjacent to said second chamber. 

1. An inflatable pillow for preventing crushing the hairdo of the user comprising: a. an elongated first generally rectangular chamber when inflated supporting the neck, shoulders and a portion of the head of the user; b. a second generally rectangular chamber arranged as a surge chamber to accommodate surges of air from said first chamber, and spaced therefrom so thaT the head and hair of the user generally do not contact said second chamber when inflated, said first chamber being approximately twice the crosssectional width of said second chamber, and the length of both said chambers being about three times the cross-sectional width of said first chamber; c. a pair of spaced-apart chambers having a length less than that of said first and second chamber extending from the ends of said first chamber to the ends of said second chamber providing means for forming communication passages in said pillow between said first and second chambers, supporting the hair of the user above the supporting surface of the pillow, and permitting free movement of a user on said first chamber, a generally rectangular pillow with a generally rectangular opening being formed by said chambers, the pillow being formed solely by said chambers and being flexible in its inflated and deflated states; and d. means for inflating said pillow at least adjacent to said second chamber. 